“Drop Test Studies” with ICAROS

Drop test studies evaluate the effect of the impact of a part or an assembly with a rigid or flexible planar surface. Dropping an object on the floor is a typical application and hence the name.

In this activity students are introduced to a common engineering method and practice it using ICAROS and the data they collect accordingly. They also apply the basic elements of statistics that they learned in a previous activity.

Students collect data from the Flight Control Board, in particular from the on-board accelerometer, which is connected to a PC with a long USB cable. They then analyze them and finally present their findings. For Naze32 FCB data can be accessed through the Baseflight-Configurator software. In particular as shown in Screenshot 1, they have to use the Sensor Data tab of Baseflight-Configurator, where they can familiarize themselves with the available sensors and see in real-time the values as they move or shake ICAROS.